Data · dataset · 2026
Ms. Hisako Koyama: From Amateur Astronomer to Long-Term Solar Observer
Listed in National Center for Atmospheric Research
The path to science for a girl of any nationality born in the early twentieth century was formidable-to-nonexistent.
Description
Yet paths were forged by a few. We present the little-known story of one of Japan's premier solar observers and her contribution to the world's understanding of sunspots and space weather cycles.
Ms. Hisako Koyama, born in Tokyo in 1916, became a passionate amateur astronomer, a dedicated solar observer, and a long-serving staff member of the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo. As a writer for amateur astronomy journals she advised many on the details and joys of sky viewing.
Read the rest (2 more)
She created a consistent, extended record of sunspots. Her multidecade archive of sunspot drawings is one of the 'backbones" for the recent international recalibration of the sunspot record that provides insight into space weather reaching back to the early 1600s. We detail her contributions to the citizens of Japan as an ambassador of astronomy and her international contribution to understanding the symmetries and asymmetries of the solar cycle.
We comment on the value of her continuous record of sunspots and on her tenacity in promoting a science that links to space weather.
Links
Get the data
- Publisher page n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7542r55 ↗
documentation · download · from data ucar edu
Where it is published
- data.ucar.edu /dataset/ms-hisako-koyama-from-amateur-astronomer-to-long-term-… ↗
National Center for Atmospheric Research dataset page
landing page · from data ucar edu
Catalogue records · 1
- CKAN API data.ucar.edu/api/3/action/package_show?id=34d8ec3c-6cf9-4e7f-acb4-f529719ba… ↗
metadata API · from data ucar edu
Topics
- From keywords
- Earth & Environmental Science · Ocean & Atmospheric Science
Provenance · 1 source records, 7 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Center for Atmospheric Research | 34d8ec3c-6cf9-4e7f-acb4-f529719ba8b8 | 12 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| concepts[field].local:field:earth-environmental | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:ocean-atmospheric | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| created_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /notes |
| publication_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /title |
| updated_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 |